[Ron Ramirez]

And here's the proof:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00001.jpg]

Ignore the whitish-looking, out-of-focus pores in the foreground, those are artifacts from the camera's flash. All of the pores on the top of the cabinet are now dark, as you see in the middle of the photo above.

[Steve Davis]

Yes, much better.

[Arran]

The grain fill on that Tropic looks correct now Ron, the grain fill on the still original parts of my 42-327 is the same colour and it's from the same era. By the way, have the patches disappeared between the sanding sealer and grain filler?
Regards
Arran

[codefox1]

Just looked down on the old table I have my computer on. I think the veneer was mahogany and the filler tinted with very dark brown or black way back when. Same table I stripped, dyed those black again, and and horridly sprayed with a couple of coats of Polyuterane a couple of decades ago. Twas winter time, and I dared gloss and tiptoed away for a day.

Other than the careless cigarette burn suffered a long time before I quit, table is stable.

Off topic, anyone still smoking, please quit. Feeble as I am anyone else can do it. Die from something else. Now about cholesteral, ////no somebody''s else turn to keep some of us alive.

[TA Forbes]

I gave up smoking and now my hobby is touching things to find out if they are hot.

*note to self..... the 220V power receptacle is HOT !!!!!!

[PhilcoMike]

RE: Ron's Cabinet Work for the 2012 Season
I want to welcome our lurking audience from ARF.

Ron,

Blame me for the extra ARF visitors. I posted a link to your great cabinet work there regarding a grain filler question.
Got to feed my non-Philco radio addition somewhere...

Thanks,

Mike

[Ron Ramirez]

I saw it "over there," Mike, thus my comment (which was meant to be humorous).

[PhilcoMike]

Ron,

Humor is always welcome and accepted.

Thanks,

Mike

[Ron Ramirez]

I guess it's time for a progress report. Or, should I say, lack of progress report.

You will recall that I applied stain to the top of the 42-761EZ cabinet, to color the too-light water-based Behlen grain filler. The stain did a great job of making the grain filler look dark, as it should.

However, the grain still was not completely filled, so I applied more CrystaLac.

Big mistake.

Something in the CrystaLac caused the stain I put on top of the cabinet to literally "bloom" and bleed out, leaving the grain looking like out-of-focus photofinish.



I was too disgusted to take any photos.

So, after stripping the cabinet for the third time now - and since it is almost the middle of September - I'm hoisting the white flag of surrender. The 42-761EZ wins (for now). I am retreating until next spring when I shall try again.

I have lots of electronic work to do - for starters, finishing up my 41-616, and then tackling my McMurdo Silver MP VI.

In between, I really, really need to find some more dark walnut oil-based grain filler - or just give up entirely on filling grain. I can't get the "hang" of CrystaLac, and Behlen water-based is too light and unreliable.

That reminds me, I never did try the Timber Mate that I bought. But now, I'm not interested in trying to work on any more cabinets this year - like I said, I've decided to give up for 2012 and try again in spring 2013.

Final tally for 2012 - One freaking cabinet, a 19B. That's all. Better luck next year.

[Arran]

Ron;
See if you can clean it up with some 0000 steel wool or fine sandpaper, if it has hardened. If it hasn't and is oil based try cleaning it off with mineral spirits. I think you can salvage most of your work to this point without stripping the cabinet and starting over.
Regards
Arran

[Ron Ramirez]

The temperature dipped into the upper 30s this morning. It will soon be too cold to do any refinishing.

But here's some good news to pass along...Constantines has regrouped under new management, and appears to be stocking their oil-based grain filler again.
http://www.constantines.com/pastewoodfiller.aspx

[Marsupial]

Tell me about it. I still have to get my toner before I can bring the radio back in the house. And I intend to use it this winter...

[Ron Ramirez]

Well, folks, I found that I was able to successfully reconstitute, or revitalize, or revive, or whatever, my can of Constantine's walnut filler by adding a little mineral spirits, waiting a couple weeks, then stirring the heck out of it.

So I've been rushing to fill the grain in the 42-761EZ with my old Constantine's product (yes, I did pull the can out of the trash), and since yesterday was probably our last 80 degree day for who knows how long, I got as far as applying Medium Walnut toner overall to the cabinet.

If the temp gets up to 59 as predicted Saturday, I will mask off the cabinet, take it outside long enough to apply the dark highlights, then take it back in again right away.

I won't be able to completely finish the cabinet right away because it needs decals that I do not have (yet).

Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to mess with it any more this year. But every day as I passed by the stripped cabinet, it bugged me...and when I found the Constantine's filler was still usable, I decided to give it another try.

[Ron Ramirez]

Success!

But before I show you how the 42-761EZ cabinet looks now, take a look at the "before" shot:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00001.jpg]

And here is how the cabinet looks now:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00002.jpg]

Today, I managed to not only mask off the cabinet and apply the black toner, but I also removed the masking and sprayed a couple coats of clear to protect the toner.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I still need to acquire the proper decals, apply them, and then finish the cabinet with a couple more coats of clear...so I may not have the cabinet 100% complete until next Spring. But it is looking quite nice at this point...

[Steve Davis]

Beautiful